Читать книгу Tough Business - Владимир Баранчиков - Страница 4

A week has passed, the adaptation period is over, I’m moving in with Sergey Nikolaevich. We are located opposite each other, but the office is spacious, everyone has a living space. We unpacked and assembled my desk, requested new imported telephones with memory, two for each. And it started – calls, faxes, faxes and calls. The business card proudly flaunts – a business representative of the foreign economic department, there is an option for foreigners: Business Representative Department Foreign Trade. The position obliges – outwardly we try to match: strict suits, ties, we absorb corporate culture. We are trying to defend our independence from the pressure of those divisions of the holding that have been functioning for six months – the financial service, the supply department and the investment department. The latter got used to throwing us English-language texts for technical translation, they allegedly needed it badly, but we regarded it as a loss of sovereignty – such translations (except if it is our direct duty to the authorities) were regarded as a distraction from our main function – to conduct foreign trade transactions and earn money. The investment department was represented by two respectable people, and both in glasses, a candidate and a doctor of sciences, were doing some kind of development on the design of a line for the manufacture of something. I was not interested in their work, but at joint meetings of our organization, these guys reported solidly on the next stage of their highly intelligent work, finding understanding in the person of the management, who set this service as an example to us, the freaks from foreign trade, from whom it is of no use that goat – milk. Look up to the leaders!

Contacts, contacts: that’s what we really need. We offer metals and other products to foreign firms and organizations, chambers of commerce of different countries. Inevitably, phone bills are rising, the chief accountant – an imperious lady – scares us with expenses (in my opinion, the chief accountant is not a position, but a diagnosis). But our president (praise him!) cut it off once and for all:

– If they call, it means they are working.

And we tried to justify this trust with all our might. We carry bundles of commercial offers to the information department for mailing – there two girls fax them from morning to evening. But there are no results yet.

Meanwhile, there is a project – the import of clothes from England. Felix Andreevich signs a contract with some Londoner who speaks English poorly. A container with suits and shoes from London is sailing to us, and I am instructed to clear the valuable cargo at the port and deliver it by car to our store.

– Vladimir Ivanovich, do you know what an invoice is? – Felix Andreevich is interested in me.

– At the top of your voice! – I’m pronounce my version of the quiz «What? Where? When?» The chief’s smile once again proved his endurance and ability to work with the brave soldier Schweik…

The next day I survey the morning landscape of the St. Petersburg terminal. My container is already in the warehouse, that yellow one over there, I found it in even rows among its twins, but first this forty-foot-long box needs to be put on a special platform for customs inspection. I, like a madman, ran for an hour and a half, gesturing to the driver of the gantry crane – take this one, please! Finally hooked! I run to the customs office, and there it’s lunch time, holy business! I look at different ads and read:

– The cargo of the MST company is serviced out of turn!

Who is so happy? Perhaps this is Matvienko Sergey Timofeevich, the namesake of the well-known Valentina Ivanovna? (we didn’t use the word «corruption» then). A female customs specialist floated out of the cherished doors, asked to open the container, and there were large cardboard boxes. All seventeen, as indicated in the invoice. For the sake of order, one box was opened: it’s true clothes, but men’s. Oh, if perfume, then it would be possible to make a present to a beautiful lady, and here – men’s trousers. We put the customs seal on the container. We go back with a solemn gait and draw up the documents, the stamp is «Allowed». Time is inexorably ticking – the car rental is paid until six in the evening. And now it is necessary to put the seal of the cargo office on the documents for admission to the port entrance, and on the container – a seal impression with a huge stamp half a meter long and weighing seven kilograms. The office employees did not bother themselves and did not want to go down from the second floor to the courtyard, they gave me a composter. I returned the piece of iron to them, and off we go! We unloaded at Vasilyevsky Island at five o’clock, then the four of us counted suits, trousers, jackets. It came together the second time, and the ties did not give up five times: then a hundred, then a hundred and one…

The next day, when I was approaching the office, the Lada car stopped at my feet, Felix Andreevich got out of it and shook my hand.

The next container with clothes was brought to our building – we paid for customs clearance services. It so happened that Sergey Nikolaevich, or just Sergey, and I approached this truck almost simultaneously. Our friendly handshake was expected, but, to my surprise, he did not see me point-blank, having started communicating with the driver. Having found out what he was interested in, Sergey had already descended and greeted me by the hand. The contrast with Felix was striking. A thought flashed through my mind:

– Volodya, draw conclusions.

Overall boxes with clothes were dragged to the fourth floor together with Sergey in our dress uniform and stacked in an empty office next door, the boxes were opened. Our trophies are fashionable suits, jackets, trousers, men’s shoes and, of course, ties, all made in England. Of course, everything was sorted, counted and checked against the invoices. I’m not a fan of rags, but some copies were very even. And then we had frequent guests – employees of friendly companies (it’s not for nothing that we are a «Holding») – who don’t want to be a bit of a dandy, some picked up good options for themselves and took them with them. Sergey and I helped the process and kept records. Suddenly the door opened and our president quickly entered the room. After a cursory inspection of the exhibition and sale, he selected two boxes of shoes and said, addressing me:

– Bring it to my office tonight.

The chief accountant came with her strict instructions later. I listened to them with due attention and added, looking into her eyes:

– Except for these two boxes – Khazir Daudovich asked me to leave them for him.

The mention of the head of the holding company dramatically changed the tone of the conversation.